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Click here to view the original article.[Russia's propaganda machinery has been running overtime ever since sanctions were imposed in response to their war against Ukraine. Also, it makes one wonder how many of the right-wing anti-migrant protesters are native Germans? *RON*]
By Lucian Kim, Reuters, 7 February 2016

The attack came in the form of a Saturday evening newscast from Moscow. It would take days before the German government realized what was happening, but by that time the damage was already done. Germany’s sizable Russian-speaking community –made up of migrants from the former Soviet Union — was up in arms about a report that refugees from the Middle East had gang-raped a 13-year-old Russian girl in Berlin — and that the local police was covering up the crime.

Until recently, Germany had largely been spared the wrath of Russia’s state propaganda machine. Germans, in their eagerness to be conscientious world citizens and reliable business partners, were seen in the Kremlin…

Click here to view the original article.[There's an Irish national election at the end of this month. This article talks about the 'two Irelands' and the economic and politic divide between the larger cities - where there has been an economic recovery - and the rest of the country - where there has not. *RON*]Larry Donnelly, Irish Central, 8 February 2016

The months of waiting for the Irish political classes are finally over. After flirting with a late 2015 general election and then indicating that it would be held in early 2016 without revealing the date, the Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) has dissolved Dáil Éireann (the lower house of Irish parliament) and announced that the general election will be held on Friday, 26th February.

The Irish people will elect 158 members of the next Dáil in 40 constituencies. These figures are down from 166 members and 43 constituencies after a redrawing of the electoral map since the last general election in 2011.